Steering Wheel Shake at Highway Speeds

[jiehan]

Yes. I did do that. But they kinda rule it out saying it’s normal with 22 inch.

Same here. I demonstrated this issue with the tech riding in the passenger seat. He touched the wheel and said it’s normal ?‍

Rivian San Jose

Sponsored

 

[Summi99]

Same here. I demonstrated this issue with the tech riding in the passenger seat. He touched the wheel and said it’s normal ?‍

Rivian San Jose

They fixed quite a bit of the shake on the last SC appointment. Confirmed the alignment was off and also balance. Now there is still some shake but like 3/10.
Weird thing is that when I put r1s in sport mode the vehicle keeps pulling to the right. I thought the alignment should’ve fixed it. Don’t see this happening in all purpose + standard height mode.

 

[ham]

Same here. I demonstrated this issue with the tech riding in the passenger seat. He touched the wheel and said it’s normal ?‍

Rivian San Jose

Same thing happened to me at Rivian South SF. Apparently shaking steering wheel is "in spec". So now driving up and down 680 with barely controllable jiggling steering wheel for my commute... fun.

 

[jiehan]

Same here. I demonstrated this issue with the tech riding in the passenger seat. He touched the wheel and said it’s normal ?‍

Rivian San Jose

Back in again for issues including this one. At drop off, I was told that there is an ongoing engineering investigation and they can’t do anything at this time.

In addition, they said they can’t test drive above 65mph

 

[ham]

Back in again for issues including this one. At drop off, I was told that there is an ongoing engineering investigation and they can’t do anything at this time.

In addition, they said they can’t test drive above 65mph

If you get any improvements from anything, would love to know.

 

[snowboarder777]

Back in again for issues including this one. At drop off, I was told that there is an ongoing engineering investigation and they can’t do anything at this time.

In addition, they said they can’t test drive above 65mph

Then take the tech for a drive yourself with him in the passenger seat to show them. I did that and got my tires re-road force at an independent installer and got all my wheels/tires below 10 lbs road force and its smooth now. I have the new Michelin Defenders MS2 21' size.

 

[rkalbiar]

Hmm. Standing on your head?

 

[shap]

My cars back in for the same issue for the past 2 weeks, miraculously my rental 2023 base Model 3 thats totally beat up with 13K miles doesn't shake at all and have been driving it happily.

If they don't fix the issue completely this time I will lemon law the vehicle. I feel like my expectations are very low lol

I have the same problem - I bet most of us have it. it seems they pass too much feedback from the wheels. Did they replace your steering wheel rack with a heavy one?

BTW, I changed my wheels and tires (had 21" moved to 20"). Same shaking, so it is not balance.

One thing to add - on some, very flat roads it will stop shaking. So I am almost 100% certain - they just have a design flaw in the steering rack, and they will not be able to fix the problem. IMHO.

 

[ham]

I have the same problem - I bet most of us have it. it seems they pass too much feedback from the wheels. Did they replace your steering wheel rack with a heavy one?

1st round of service they did an alignment and balance which didn't do anything and said that some vibration is "In spec"

I drive around for 6 months and my hands are starting to hurt from grabbing onto a constantly oscillating wheel + it's becoming a safety issue, so I took it back in.

2nd round I actually got a tech who took it up to 60 mph and was like uhh yeah this is not normal, he wasn't sure if it already had the heavier steering wheel or not (it is a late model gen 1). Now it's been 2 weeks of radio silence from the dealership. So we shall see what happens..

After driving this Tesla around and feeling in control and safe again, I am not going to take the truck back until we go on a test drive together and the shakes are gone.

 

[shap]

1st round of service they did an alignment and balance which didn't do anything and said that some vibration is "In spec"

I drive around for 6 months and my hands are starting to hurt from grabbing onto a constantly oscillating wheel + it's becoming a safety issue, so I took it back in.

2nd round I actually got a tech who took it up to 60 mph and was like uhh yeah this is not normal, he wasn't sure if it already had the heavier steering wheel or not (it is a late model gen 1). Now it's been 2 weeks of radio silence from the dealership. So we shall see what happens..

Just updated my post with some more details. I do not think it is a balance (unless you really have a significant balance issue). I think it is a design flaw (as many others). I just got used to it....

 

[ham]

Just updated my post with some more details. I do not think it is a balance (unless you really have a significant balance issue). I think it is a design flaw (as many others). I just got used to it....

I am on the OEM Pirellis and having issues as well. Apparently jiggling is “in spec” and Rivians solution is to “just drive slower” even though highway on the routes that I drive has a speed limit of 70 mph.

My layman’s theory after having all the tricks in the book done trying to get this fixed:

So with a normal truck or SUV having fat heavy tires is normal and you’re realistically never to get a perfect balance. So with something like a Range Rover or F150 the on center steering is a bit numb.

Rivians have this sporty Porsche like direct steering and there’s way too much jiggling feedback coming back through the steering wheel. Which is where I think this heavy steering wheel trick is supposed to help with.

So for now I have to deal with this problem where my expensive vehicle has worse jiggling than a 1995 Corolla on my commute. Maybe it’ll get fixed via software or something one day.

I actually had the same exact theory in July but mine is pretty bad and I can't even comfortably pick people up without them commenting on the vibrating which is embarrassing

I also barely drive or take road trips anymore because of it so it's become a problem.

 

[shap]

I actually had the same exact theory in July but mine is pretty bad and I can't even comfortably pick people up without them commenting on the vibrating which is embarrassing

I also barely drive or take road trips anymore because of it so it's become a problem.

I looked at your video - seems as mine. I will try to make a video and publish here. When I put my hand on a steering wheel vibrations are gone (I do not put a lot of force - just weight of my hand).

Look, the truck is nice but has many flaws (here I will probably trigger Rivian fans).
Half shafts, gear lashes, phantom drain, steering wheel shaking, etc.

These flaws does not make truck undrivable, but they should not present in 100k car. However, this is their first car and they do not have all needed IP as regular brands. My problem with Rivian is communication - just acknowledge that you aware of the problem and will seek possible solution in the future. Instead they are silent ...

 

[ham]

I looked at your video - seems as mine. I will try to make a video and publish here. When I put my hand on a steering wheel vibrations are gone (I do not put a lot of force - just weight of my hand).

Look, the truck is nice but has many flaws (here I will probably trigger Rivian fans).
Half shafts, gear lashes, phantom drain, steering wheel shaking, etc.

These flaws does not make truck undrivable, but they should not present in 100k car. However, this is their first car and they do not have all needed IP as regular brands. My problem with Rivian is communication - just acknowledge that you aware of the problem and will seek possible solution in the future. Instead they are silent ...

For my case I actually tried a bunch of different things like grabbing steering wheel as hard as I could or putting a bunch of force on it but the vibrations still get transferred to my hands.

Overall, I do find the truck undriveable and unsafe. Sharp and sporty steering mixed with oscillations is a total disaster I feel 0 confidence in even staying in my lane on trips longer than 15 min. If theres an active construction zone like most of CA highways? I don't even want to think about it.

On the other hand this beat up, $35k last gen, Model 3 rental Rivian is paying $100 a day for actually drives like it isn't broken, so I feel like my standards aren't high.

I will update the thread if they fix it within the next 2 weeks since we are coming up on the time limit where I can file a lemon law complaint for a buy back.

 

[Here2there]

I have the gen 2 R1S and also experience excessive steering wheel shaking only when driving at highway speeds. The crazy thing is that it doesn’t seem consistent to me. Sometimes smooth roads will cause it to shake but sometimes it doesn’t. Rough roads seem to cause it to happen more.

When I first picked up the vehicle, the wheel alignment was off and pulled to the left. Service center noted that the alignment was out of spec and corrected it. But then during their road test noticed it began to pull to the right. They ended up replacing both front 22” tires with new ones. I got the vehicle back and confirmed that the alignment was good but then had the steering wheel shakes. Drove my trusty Mazda 6 back over the same stretch of highway and didn’t get excessive steering wheel shaking.

I have an upcoming service appointment for something else unrelated. Is it even worth bringing up the steering wheel shaking?

 

[Dave Cundiff]

I have the gen 2 R1S and also experience excessive steering wheel shaking only when driving at highway speeds. The crazy thing is that it doesn’t seem consistent to me. Sometimes smooth roads will cause it to shake but sometimes it doesn’t. Rough roads seem to cause it to happen more.

When I first picked up the vehicle, the wheel alignment was off and pulled to the left. Service center noted that the alignment was out of spec and corrected it. But then during their road test noticed it began to pull to the right. They ended up replacing both front 22” tires with new ones. I got the vehicle back and confirmed that the alignment was good but then had the steering wheel shakes. Drove my trusty Mazda 6 back over the same stretch of highway and didn’t get excessive steering wheel shaking.

I have an upcoming service appointment for something else unrelated. Is it even worth bringing up the steering wheel shaking?

It bothers you, @Here2there. You're making the trip to the Service Center. Staff will be available.

Best to add it to the work order in advance,, but of course you should ask Rivian to evaluate things that bother you.

Disclosure: No shaking in ours, except from the Lane Departure Warning system (which my wife prefers).

Very best wishes!

Sponsored